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THE MOODY BLUES: THE PRESENT [UK 1985] LP THE MOODY BLUES: THE PRESENT [UK 1985] LP The Moody Blues   "The Present"  LP (Threshold)  1985  made in UK cat. num.  810 119-1 #rock  #progressive rock   A1 Blue World 5:16 A2 Meet Me Halfway 4:09 A3 Sitting At The Wheel 5:35 A4 Going Nowhere 5:27 B1 Hole In The World 1:55 B2 Under My Feet 4:48 B3 It's Cold Outside Your Heart 4:23 B4 Running Water 3:20 B5 I Am 1:41 B6 Sorry 4:56   ELO  fans who found in  Long Distance Voyager  a new  Discovery  can be excused for thinking there's no  Time  like  The Present. Just as  ELO 's follow-up to the sweeping  Discovery  seemed tame by comparison, so  The Present  failed to match the grandiose arrangements of  the Moodies ' previous record. It's still a solid effort, bolstered by strong songwriting and pleasant melodies, but as good as the opening "Blue World" is, its downbeat message is no substitute for the clarion call of "The Voice."  The Present  seems to make a conscious effort to scale back the arena-size sound of their previous album, returning to the warmly rendered ballads of old.  Patrick Moraz, whose keyboards were a revelation on  Long Distance Voyager, plays a diminished role here, as  Justin Hayward 's guitar takes more of the lead, suggesting a poor man's  Phil Manzanera  or  David Gilmour. While it charted well and provided hit singles in "Blue World" and "Sitting at the Wheel" (again, it's  John Lodge  who provides the most invigorating track),  The Present  is a gift that listeners will need to warm up to over time. Only after several sittings do  Hayward 's lush ballads like "Meet Me Halfway" and "Running Water" sink in. Following the format of their last effort, the closing tracks are given to  Ray Thomas, who once more proves a compelling presence (he's also the only good thing about "Going Nowhere"). "I Am" and "Sorry" amount to little more than love songs, but  Thomas ' sense for dramatic arrangements manages to elevate the musical discussion. Given the now infrequent release of new albums by  the Moody Blues, more could have been expected from  The Present, but less could have been achieved (as the disappointing  Keys of the Kingdom  demonstrated). If it's merely average by  Moodies  standards, at least  The Present  didn't bode ill for the future.  

RY COODER: BOP TILL YOU DROP [ESP 1984] LP/RE RY COODER: BOP TILL YOU DROP [ESP 1984] LP/RE Ry Cooder   "Bop Till You Bop"  LP (Warner)  1984  made in Spain cat. num.  LB 56691 #rock  #blues rock  #rock&roll   Little Sister 3:49 Go Home, Girl 5:10 The Very Thing That Makes Your Rich 5:32 I Think It's Going To Work Out Fine 4:43 Down In Hollywood 4:14 Look At Granny Run Run 3:09 Trouble You Can't Fool Me 4:55 Don't You Mess Me Up A Good Thing 4:08 I Can't Win 4:16   Following his conceptual 1978 release,  Jazz,  Ry Cooder  returned the next year with the R&B/soul-based  Bop Till You Drop. The first major-label, digitally recorded album,  Bop  is a nice set of moderately known to obscure tunes from the '50s and '60s (along with a  Cooder / Tim Drummond  original) that doesn't always live up to its promise.  Cooder  and his excellent band, which includes the rhythm section of  Tim Drummond  and  Jim Keltner  along with guitarist  David Lindley, understand the material and are more than capable of laying down a decent groove, but something must have gotten lost in translation from what was played to what came across on the recording. There's a thinness to the tracks that undermines the performances, which according to  Cooder  is due to the digital recording. If you check out the live version of  Bop Till You Drop 's opener, "Little Sister," from the No Nukes record (using the same band), you can see what surely could have been. Still,  Bop  is worthwhile given  Cooder 's penchant for choosing great tunes, as well as the tight performances, brilliant guitar work, and a handful of great guest vocalists (including  Chaka Khan). A few of the highlights include his arrangement of the early-'60s  Elvis  hit "Little Sister," the soulful "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)," an instrumental take on  Ike & Tina Turner 's "I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine," and "I Can't Win," featuring  Cooder 's longtime cohort  Bobby King  on lead vocal.